Recent Pets Blog | Animal Folktales Posts

From the Mouths of Babes: Why Pets Have Such Short Lives

by Aimee Amodio

I'm a big fan of the James Herriot books and stories. You may be most familiar with All Creatures Great and Small -- the book, the film, or the series. Herriot referred to them as his "little cat and dog stories", but they are much more than that.

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Animal Folktales: Drakestail

by Aimee Amodio

This is a special story for me -- when I was in sixth grade, I took part in a storytelling workshop at my local library. Of the kids at my library who participated, I was chosen to go and tell my story again at the main branch of the county library system.

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Animal Folktales: The Greedy Monkey

by Aimee Amodio

There are many variations of this folktale out there... but this is the version I remember. Stories tend to grow and change and evolve as they are told -- that's part of the wonder of the oral tradition. A hunter set out a simple trap: a glass bottle filled halfway with berries.

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Have You Heard the One About the Boy and the Penguin?

by Courtney Mroch

Not too long ago my husband told me an outrageous story a co-worker had told him about a boy who smuggled a penguin out of an aquarium in his backpack. He swore up and down the story was true, and he believed it was, but I wasn't falling for it.

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The Dog Days of Summer: Why Dogs Take the Heat for the Heat

by Courtney Mroch

At the start of every month I consult lists scattered across the web to compile what I call my daily/weekly/monthly celebrations list.

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The Easter Bunny: One Giving Rabbit

by Courtney Mroch

Who is the Easter Bunny? We know he keeps good company with the likes of Santa Claus, and we know he brings baskets of goodies to kids at Easter.

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Candlemas and Groundhog Day: Folkloric Origins

by Courtney Mroch

Before there was Candlemas, there was Imbolc, a pagan ceremony celebrating the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Celtic beliefs held that during this time certain animals had special powers, such as forecasting the weather.

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The Old Woman at the End of Time

by Aimee Amodio

Some Native American legends speak of a very old woman who lives at the End of the World. Because she is so very old, she moves very slowly. She spends day and night working at a gigantic loom, weaving an enormous blanket. On her campfire, she keeps a great pot of sweet berry soup bubbling away.

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How the Stars Got Into the Sky

by Aimee Amodio

Have you heard the tales of the Native American trickster, Coyote? Sometimes Coyote is a helper and sometimes he is not, but he is always interesting. This is a tale of Coyote and how the stars got into the sky. A long time ago, when the world was young, there were no stars in the sky.

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Rudolph: Fun Facts About Santa's Red-Nosed Reindeer

by Courtney Mroch

"You know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?" It's precious few who haven't heard of Rudolph.

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